Nick Zegarac (movieman-200) At a scant 92 minutes, 'The Lullaby of Broadway' (1951) manages to get its job done without overstaying its welcome. The film is really a throwback musical. Based upon the 1930s extravaganzas a la Busby Berkeley, Warner Bros. trundles out a dated flick in glorious Technicolor, with an atypical backstage yarn. The film stars Doris Day – then a relatively new protégée – as Melinda Howard. Coming to America to visit her mother, whom she believes is a great star, Melinda is treated to the truth in short order. Not that that stops her from becoming a Broadway sensation, donning the top half of tux like the great Eleanor Powell, and exploding onto the screen with Cole Porter's 'Just One Of Those Things'.Yet there's a total lack of romantic chemistry between Melinda and her dancing partner, Tom Farnham (Gene Nelson). Not that any of this stops director, David Butler from force feeding his audience the prospect of a grand amour that never genuinely materializes on screen. What saves the film from becoming a colossal gag is its score. Jam packed with a cornucopia of production numbers, including 'You're Getting to Be A Habit With Me' and Gene Nelson's tour de force, 'Zing Went the Strings of My Heart', and coupled with a supporting cast of contract players that include S.Z Sakall and Florence Bates, "The Lullaby Of Broadway" manages to keep its artistic merit above the water line of mediocrity.Warner's DVD is a mixed blessing. As with many of its other vintage Technicolor features, there are problems with mis-registration of the three strip process that occasionally create disturbing halos and blur the image. For the most part, there is a frothy, rich look to the film that is in keeping with the magical quality of Technicolor. Rich blacks and clean white and a decided lack of film grain make the presentation quite pleasing on the eyes. The audio is mono but nicely rendered. A gallery of theatrical trailers from this and other Doris Day films is all we get for extras.

nk_gillen If you're a pushover for Fifties movie-musicals that stress music over story, "Lullaby of Broadway" may represent that genre's prototype. This is not to say that musicals with thin storylines are necessarily bad. The success of the earlier Astaire-Rogers films depended on dancing, music, and an occasional wisecrack or a fancy bit of dialogue--in that order. "Lullaby" isn't in the class of "Top Hat" by a long way. But it does represent a trend of movie-making that Warner Brothers embarked on briefly during the early 1950's: Cheesecake a la Day ("It's a Great Feeling," "On Moonlight Bay," "By the Light of the Silvery Moon," etc.). In her autobiography, "Doris Day: Her Own Story" (published in 1976), the actress describes her early years as a contract player for Jack L. Warner and the heated disputes she had with the autocratic movie czar regarding miscasting and bad scripts. But in "Lullaby," there is virtually no script to complain of. It's a revue, and thus, not a movie in the traditional sense. But what a revue! From Ray Heindorf's jazzy 1951 arrangement of the old title tune (from "Gold Diggers of 1935") over the opening credits, to the Prinzs' inventive choreography, this movie clicks along in high gear from one showstopper to the next.Day also recalled in her memoirs that "Lullaby" contained, by far, the toughest dance routines of any film she ever made. One particularly challenging scene called for her to perform an intricate series of steps on a huge staircase--while weighted down in a gold-lame dress. At first, she balked, warning the crew to have an ambulance waiting after the first take. With encouragement from the director David Butler and others, however, she did manage to successfully complete the dance number."Lullaby of Broadway" is not the best of the Day/Warners musicals--that distinction goes to "Calamity Jane" (1953)--but it's as good as the rest. With Gene Nelson as Day's dance-partner, Billy De Wolfe as a vaudevillian-turned-valet, and the almost unbearable S. Z. "Cuddles" Sakall, as a Broadway "angel."

didi-5 Doris Day searches for her mother (Gladys George) who she imagines to be a great Broadway star. On arriving in New York she finds things don't always go to plan, but she finds her own talents become in demand. Romantic interest from hoofer Gene Nelson (and their duet number "Somebody Loves Me" has plenty of zip); and the usual Warners irritation factor from "Cuddles" Sakall, never really all that funny. Like other musicals from the studio during the 50s, "Lullaby" steals its score from older and better showcases of the 1930s; in this case, even apeing the final title number on its early sighting in "Gold Diggers of 1935". The other numbers include "Zing Went The Strings of My Heart", better associated with Judy Garland than Miss Day.

willrams Another of my most enjoyable movie musicals with my favorite star, Doris Day, singing and dancing with Gene Nelson. I'll never forget the tap dance they did together going up a staircase-fantastic! An excellent cast includes Gladys George, and two of the funniest men around in the 50s: cute S.Z. Sakall and that buggy-eyed looney Billy DeWolfe who will tickle your funnybone. Sakall played in most of Doris' musicals and he is a character to remember! Whatever happened to Gene Nelson? He was surely a fine dancer!